Quiz: My Little Bacteria: Friendship Is Magic

Not all bacteria are our mortal enemies. Some are our friends and, yes, we have been known to go on amazing adventures with them. They're not as cute as talking ponies, but they help out in pretty cool ways. Let's see just how well you know the world of "good" bacteria.

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Question 1 of 10

Bacteria love you. After all, would they live inside you if they didn't? See if you can guess how many bacteria reside in the average human's gut.

100 million bacteria

100 billion bacteria

100 trillion bacteria

Welcome to the human bowel, population 100 trillion! You' d have a hard time digesting your favorite foods without some help from your friendly (intestinal) flora.

Question 2 of 10

Dead bacteria have to go somewhere. Care to guess how much space they take up in the average person's bowel movement?

30 percent of the solid mass in your stool

Thirty percent, if you can believe it. Keep in mind that feces is typically only 25 percent solid mass and the rest is water. But still, that's quite a lot of No. 2.

60 percent of the solid mass in your stool

90 percent of the solid mass in your stool

Question 3 of 10

Which of the following does NOT come from helpful bacteria?

Gouda cheese

penicillin

Helpful bacteria have a hand in both Gouda and yogurt. Fungus, however, claims credit for penicillin.

yogurt

Question 4 of 10

Which of the following medical products does NOT benefit from bacteria?

Prozac

Bacteria have nothing to do with Prozac, but Botox actually comes from botulinum toxin, and E. coli is used to grow human insulin in the lab.

Botox

insulin

Question 5 of 10

One all-star type of bacteria has proven itself quite a friend to scientific research. Which one can be adapted to detect both landmines and oil spills?

Salmonella

Listeria

E. coli

Despite its infamous reputation in the food industry, E. coli has shown itself to be quite useful due to its ease of manipulation.

Question 6 of 10

The bacteria species Alcanivorax borkumensis continues to excite scientists due to its consumption of which substance?

oil

This bacteria evolved to feast on oil spills, first due to natural leakage through the seafloor and now due to man-made oil spills.

uranium

meat-lover's pizza

Question 7 of 10

How do Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria in Bt insecticides kill their targets?

The bacteria blind the insects.

The bacteria paralyze the insects' digestive tracts.

Bt paralyzes the digestive tracts of insects, who then die of starvation in a matter of days.